六祖大師法寶壇經 1.9

1.9

How unfortunate, the great abbreviation of the Platform Sutra by later

people! One cannot see the great entirety of the Sixth Patriarch’s purport. In

my youth, [I,] Deyi, once saw an old copy, which I sought everywhere for

the next thirty years and more. Recently Superior One Tong has found the

complete text, which is now being published by the Idle Leisure Chan Retreat

in Wuzhong (Wu Xian, Jiangxi). It is identical to that used by the various

superior masters. My only wish is that you will open this scroll, raise your

eyes [to the text], and enter directly into the ocean of the great perfect enlight-

enment. Let the life of the wisdom of the buddhas and patriarchs continue

without cease! Thus will my earnest wish be complete.

Recorded on a spring day in the twenty-seventh hexagenary (i.e., sixty-

Preface

year calendrical cycle) year, the twenty-seventh year of the Zhiyuan (“Reaching the Origin”) [period, or 1290].

Encomium of the Platform Sutra

of the Dharma Treasure of the

Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch

by Qisong, Great Master Mingjiao of the Song

To praise is to announce, to open up the sutra and widely announce. The Platform Sutra is that by which a Perfected Man (zhiren) revealed his mind. (“Perfected Man” refers to the Sixth Patriarch, just as in the text.) What mind? The wondrous mind transmitted by the buddhas. How great, this mind! The initial source of all transformations, yet it remains ever pure. Whether ordinary person or sage, whether hidden or revealed, there is nowhere that it does not exist of itself. The sage is said to be wise (ming, i.e., “brilliant”), and the ordinary person is said to be deluded (mei, i.e., “obscure”). “Deluded” is to be transformed [into ignorance], and “wise” is to return [to original wisdom].9 Although transformed and returning differ, the wondrous mind is one.

In the beginning was Śākyamuni Buddha, who transmitted it (i.e., the mind) to Mahākāśyapa. The thirty-three generations of Mahākāśyapa’s transmission transmitted it to Great Mirror (Dajian, i.e., Huineng). (The Sixth Patriarch’s posthumous title is Great Master Great Mirror.) Great Mirror transmitted it, and it was transmitted on even further.

In the first place, the ways of speaking of [the mind] are varied. Fundamentally, there are names that are identical even though the reality varies; fundamentally, there are many meanings even though the mind is one. It is called “mind of flesh and blood,” it is called “mind of dependent cognition,” it is called “mind of correlation and activating,” and it is called “mind of firm reality.”10 Since mental states (xinsuo) are [often referred to as the] mind, there is an even greater [variety of usage]. These are cases where the names are identical even though the reality varies. It is called “mind of suchness,” it is called “mind of generation and extinction,” it is called “mind of the afflictions,” and it is called “mind of bodhi (bodhicitta).” Those of this category found in the various sutras could hardly be counted! These are cases where the meanings are many even though the mind is one.

Of meanings, there is the meaning of enlightenment (jue) and the mean-

ing of nonenlightenment (bujue). Of minds, there is the true mind (zhenxin)

and the false mind (wangxin). All of these are [just different] distinctions of

the correct mind (zhengxin). Of course, the mind referred to in the Platform

Sutra is, of [the two] meanings, the meaning of enlightenment and, of [the

two] minds, the true mind (shixin).

In the past, when the Sage [Śākyamuni] was about to secret himself [in

nirvana], he commanded Mahākāśyapa to transmit the essential Dharma

outside the teachings. Thinking that people then were stagnating in traces

and would forget to return [to the fundamental], he deeply wanted those of

later times to behold the fundamental and correct the implications. There-

fore does the Nirvana Sutra say, “I have an insurpassable correct Dharma,

which I bestow entirely on Mahākāśyapa.”

The Way of heaven resides in change, the Way of earth resides in selec-

tion, and the Way of the sages resides in the essential (yao). The essential

is a term for the most wondrous. The essential is the Way of the sages, and

is therefore the hingepin of the gate of the dharmadhātu, the meeting of the

immeasurable doctrines, the unembellished [original] vehicle of the Maha-

yana. How could the Lotus [Sutra] not but say, “You should understand that

the wondrous Dharma is the essential secret (miyao) of the buddhas.” How

could the Flower Garland [Sutra] not but say, “With a bit of expedient means,

quickly does one achieve bodhi.” The essential, then—how great is its ben-

efit in the Way of the sages!

Therefore, the central doctrine (zong) of the Platform Sutra is the honor-

ing of the essential of the mind (xinyao). The mind is as if bright, as if dark,

as if empty, as if numinous, as if serene, as if awakened. It possesses things

and is without things. Say it is a single thing, and it originally extends over the

ten thousand things. Say it is the ten thousand things, and it is originally uni-

fied in a single thing. A single thing resembling the ten thousand things, the

ten thousand things resembling a single thing: such descriptions [imply that

the mind] is conceivable, but it can neither be thought of nor conceived of.

The world (tianxia) calls it the mysterious understanding (xuanjie), they

call it the divine comprehension (shenhui), they call it beyond relativities

( juedai), they call it the silent essence (moti), they call it the obscure pene-

tration (mingtong). Transcend all of them, do away with them, do away with

them, and away again! Furthermore, how could one reach such [a state]?13 Were it not ultimately attained by solitary transmission from the Perfected Man, who could sincerely embody it? Inferring, he explicates it, and there is nowhere he cannot go. Probing, he resolves it, and there is nowhere he is not correct.

Applying it to realization of the nature, his views are perfectly intimate. Applying it to cultivation, his proceedings are perfectly correct. Applying it to the elevation of virtue and the discrimination of illusions, the true and the false are easily manifested. Applying it to transcendence of the world, the enlightenment of buddhahood is quickly achieved. Applying it to saving the world, the enervating defilements are easily ended. This is the central doctrine (zong) of the Platform Sutra, which may be disseminated throughout the world without opposition [from anyone].

Those who say [the dictum] “the mind is buddhas” is shallow do not know the extent [of their own minds]! It is as if they were to measure the earth with a broken auger and call the earth shallow; it is as if they were to probe heaven through a hole in the back corner of a roof and call heaven small. How could heaven and earth be so! Therefore, although the [masters of the] hundred houses may be a little better than this, they are not like [the perfection of the Platform Sutra]. The Perfected Man penetrates and permeates it, and his determination [of the truth] is seen to be in accord with the scriptures. The Perfected Man transforms and penetrates it, being unembodied in names (i.e., words) and inscrutable.

Therefore, there is moral and meaning in [Huineng’s] manifest preaching; there is no beginning or end of his secret preaching. Those whose natural abilities are sharp will attain it profoundly; those whose natural abilities are dull will attain it shallowly. Could it be described? Could it be expressed? If one were constrained to approximate it, then it is equivalent to the perfect and sudden teaching, the Supreme Vehicle, the Pure Chan of the Tathāgata,